Looking back the way we had just walked Greator Rocks was lit by the late sunlight.  The bluebells here are a little thinner on the ground so the impact is a little less.

This shot looks over towards Haytor.  While they are bluebells, in this shadowy light, they really did look purple (& the colour has not been adjusted in any of these shots).

Last year I caught the bluebells on Holwell Tor lawn on the Haytor side of the valley (blogged here) and they are not quite at their best yet but I think they probably should be soon.  Both this year and last year I was not the only photographer in the area – they really do make a stunning sight for anyone who is in the area.

The walk had been quite a short one so we headed over to Bonehill Rocks to catch the last light of the day.  Over the years I’ve seen some great effects around sunset on the moors and this is one of them.  I did return for an early morning shoot of the bluebells a couple of days later.  I got some good shots but decided to leave this blog to be about the one outing, some of the early shots can be seen on facebook here though.

This post dates back to a walk from mid March and was partly blogged here however other things got in the way of me posting it sooner.  Closer to the coast the day was not at all good but arriving on the moors the weather cleared and we set out from Vennford reservoir heading west.

This shot is taken as we walked along the Sandy Way towards the source of the River Avon (Aune Head).  The Sandy Way has been used for centuries as track across this area of Dartmoor which is quite featureless and, around the source of the Avon for example, is very boggy.  I liked the interplay of light on the still autumnal colours of the moorland grass.

Dartmoor is often referred to as bleak and featureless.  Most of the shots here could be seen as somewhat bleak to some people however I have always found this “bleakness” appealing and the sense of tranquillity which some would see as isolation has always been rewarding to me.  The feature that can be seen here is one of the few “stand out” features of this part of the moors and is the spoil heap from the china clay works at Redlake.  There is a large pit there where the china clay was extracted.  It was worked in the early part of the twentieth century for about 20 years until the 1930s.  This shot is taken from Fishlake looking south.

We walked down from Fishlake to where the Avon flows in and then walked up the Avon for a short distance.  There are a number of old tinners buildings in the area but the light was less good than at the start of the walk.  This is taken as we headed east up towards the summit of Ryder’s Hill which is the high point on the southern half of Dartmoor.  Again the unmistakable shape of Redlake spoil can be seen.

By way of contrast to the first image this is Vennford reservoir as we headed back to the car at the end of the walk.  The weather at the top of Ryder’s was very overcast and misty (as can also be seen here) and although we were coming out of the clouds to some degree there was nothing like the clarity there had been when we left there.

This is the “other” posting from a recent break on the Gower peninsula in Wales, the first being here.  This blog covers some wandering in the Rhossili area (which is at the very western tip of the Gower).  I first walked the Gower coast with a friend some ten years ago and loved the area from the start.  This is the third return visit and I still think the view above of Rhossili Bay is one of my favourite views in the UK.  Other than in the height of the summer season it is rarely very busy and there is plenty of space there for everyone.

From Rhossili Down, an area of moorland running along the bay, you get a good view of one of the main features of the area – Worm’s Head.  For around two hours either side of low tide it is possible to walk out along the Worm however the walking is not easy going due to the rock formations there.  It seems likely that the origin of the name is from the Danish wurm or dragon.  As a later picture will show there are times when the dragon appears to be breathing smoke and the sinuous nature of the feature is both interesting and unusual.

Walking the beach, which is a little over 4 kilometres long, we found we were not alone…  Given that a farmer and his sheep dog were attempting to round these up I don’t think they were on holiday.

However a number of paragliders were enjoying the thermals rising on Rhossili Down.  Most were not performing stunts like the one above though – this picture has not been altered – the chute was actually below the pilot as he was spinning around and seemed to be having a great time.

Wandering back along the beach towards Rhossili there was quite a lot of spume coming on to the beach as there was a fair sea running on that day.  It made for an interesting misty image looking towards Worms Head as can be seen here.

I took far too many images in the area so the above gallery is an assortment of images that I couldn’t find a reason to leave out – it really is a beautiful area.

Late on one evening while we were there I headed back to Rhossili from our guest house at Port Eynon to catch the late light over Worm’s Head.  There is the illusion of smoke on the side of the dragon here caused by waves breaking against the side of the rock.

The weather was not great while we were there and I will have to go back again but this view with the sun going behind the clouds as it set still looked lovely.  The B&B at Port Eynon was very good indeed, very nice rooms and a good breakfast, it may be worth a look at their website if you are heading to the area.

I’ve known of crepuscular rays for sometime now however watching a television programme the other evening the phrase “Fingers of God” was used and it seemed appropriate for me and this posting.  The programme was on Cloudspotting and was about the Cloud Appreciation Society as well as clouds generally – their website has some stunning images of clouds on.  I’ve taken a few over a while now but I do like this one.

I’ve sat on Dartmoor a few times at this location watching the sunset and the light over the moors and I have frequently been lucky with shots around the area at this time.  I love the “misty light” effect that the hills have at this time of day.  Walking the moors in the evening can be very rewarding.

The sunset itself was special too.  There should have been a couple of blogs on a recent trip to the Gower in Wales but they will come soon – the light and colour in all the above made me feel they should be here first.  I said when I started this blog 18 months or so ago that “everyone has to have a first blog sometime” – this is number 100.  Thanks for reading.

Heading back on the coast again we went to Budleigh Salterton in East Devon on a sunny day recently to walk some of the coast path.  The day looked to be settled and fine and when we arrived few people were around.  While the above looks west we set off heading east.

Having crossed the river Otter a little way inland, the path follows the river back to its mouth before heading east.  I rather liked the view above which looks over the Otter and west along the coast.

The path follows the fields which go right to the cliff until you get to Ladram Bay.  The photo above is taken just to the west of Ladram Bay and shows the view along towards Sidmouth.  The sandstone cliffs and sea stacks made a lovely setting.

The sandstone stacks are very interesting and make Ladram Bay a worthwhile destination (despite rather a large caravan park).  I’ll certainly aim to get back there early one day maybe when the sandstone would look even better in the light then.

The beach at Ladram is a little surprising as it is a shingle beach despite the surrounding cliff being sandstone.  This shingle is common along Lyme Bay and is what makes up Chesil Beach much further to the east.  It is a lovely sheltered cove.

We turned inland at this point as we had other things we needed to do that day and passed through the village of Otterton and picked up the river Otter again here.  We followed it back to Budleigh Salterton passing this lovely weeping willow along its banks.  It made for a pleasant walk combining coast and countryside and we will certainly head back to walk more of that area when we can.

This is the continuation of the walk that started with the post here.  From the area around Crazywell Pool we headed up the valley of the Newleycombe Lake (a stream not a lake).  It is quite hard to walk most parts of Dartmoor without seeing the remains of tin workings.  In the valley, just before we turned south, we walked through an area that had quite extensive remains.  The area above interested me.  Initially it looked like a small pond in the process of becoming a bog.  However, looking at the sloping walls to the sides and the fact that water was running out from the back of the area, I think it is probably the remains of a mining adit driven into the side of the hill which is gradually silting up.

Having walked south a little way we turned south west to start walking back to Burrator reservoir walking along the Down Tor stone row.  There are a number of Bronze Age remains all quite close together here and there is no obvious way to determine the order of building.  At the eastern end of the row is a cairn and an enclosure while at the western end there is a circle and a number of cairns.  The actual row stretches away eastwards from this shot.

By the standards of many of the remains like this on Dartmoor, the Down Tor ones are quite well preserved.  The above photo shows the circle at the western end of the row and inside the circle is the remains of a kistvaen.  While not intact the stones around the burial area are quite clear to see.

The above image, showing the end stone in the row and part of the circle around the kistvaen looks south towards Combshead Tor.  The longer shadows show it was getting late in the day by now.

We walked back to Burrator via Cuckoo Rock which is quite a large outcrop of granite which could probably be termed a tor.  However, while it stands out well from some angles, it was not very prominent from here.  However the late light on the tree (a rowan I imagine) just behind Cuckoo Rock was lovely.

When we arrived back at Burrator reservoir the sunlight had effectively gone but the water looked very tranquil with delicate shades.  I’ll return to this spot again.

As we walked some way on this occasion I’ll spread this over two blogs I think.  I set off with a friend from the Norsworthy Bridge car park by Burrator reservoir on the south west edge of Dartmoor and we walked up the River Meavy which flows into Burrator reservoir. Before we started the walk it was very misty however the sun came out just before we started and stayed out until sunset.

About two kilometres up the river there is a leat flowing over an aqueduct which also feeds the reservoir but was part of the Devonport leat which ran to Plymouth originally.  The leat was constructed in the 1790s to supply water to the naval dockyard.  While leats are common on the moors aqueducts are not.

The image above is taken from halfway up Raddick Hill looking approximately south west.  The leat can be seen running from the right of the image to the centre when it goes around the corner.  The right hand tor is Sharp Tor and the left hand tor is Lether (or Leather) Tor.

The leat does not run all the way down the hill, indeed leats generally follow contour lines and lose height very slowly which allows the water to travel greater distances.  The image above shows the leat at the point where it starts its sharper descent and there is a small clapper bridge at that point.

Dartmoor is a place of many legends.  Given the fact that parts of it are fairly wild and, for England, quite remote it is not particularly surprising.  The image above is of Crazywell (or Classenwell among other spellings) Pool which, legend would have, is bottomless.  I believe it has been drained in the past however, given the surroundings, it is obviously the remains of a tinners’ working so being “bottomless” would have caused the miners a few issues…  The tor directly ahead is Down Tor.

Above are photos of two ancient crosses in this area.  The one on the left is Crazywell Cross marking one of the ancient trans moor routes which may well have been used by monks moving from one monastery to another.  The one on the right takes its name from the small stream at the bottom of the valley here which is Newleycombe Lake (although it is a stream) and so is called Newleycombe Cross.  It too is believed to have marked the ancient trackway.

The final image is taken from the same area and looks back on the light shimmering on Burrator reservoir which was both our starting point and our end point.  However this is around halfway through the walk and I will blog the other half soon.

When we arrived at the summit the contrasts were striking and remarkable as we seemed to have arrived on the edge of two quite different weather systems. To the west (the direction we had arrived from) the weather was quite “normal” for the area and time of year – clouds and sun. To the north and south there was a clear line of weather. To the east there really was really nothing to see!  It was interesting to be at such a clear division in the weather.

Initially I walked around the Hound Tor area (Hound Tor is above) however the light was variable. There were patches of sunlight but they tended not to be where I wanted them to be!

A little later (the one above was taken about 19:00) the lower light was showing up the hedges in the fields just south of Widecombe-in-the-moor very well.

The clouds started to gather giving interesting patterns and light seen here close to Top Tor.

There was a short period where good evening sunlight hit the Hey Tor range as seen here. However the light only fell on Saddle Tor (the closer one) with Hey Tor in shadow.

After that the clouds merged and the light went – just leaving the odd ray coming through and it was time to head to the pub. It proved worth staying out a bit as, after a drink, there was a great sunset still affected by the dust from the volcanic ash plume.